ABU DHABI, U.A.E. — In a special ceremony, Royal Jet, one of the Middle East’s foremost private charter companies, and CFM International celebrated the achievement of 150,000 engine flight hours with the carrier’s fleet of Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) powered by CFM56-7B engines.
Royal Jet took delivery of its first CFM-powered airplane in 2003 when the company was formed. Today, it is the world’s largest BBJ operator with a fleet of seven aircraft. Royal Jet maintains very high utilization rates for a VIP carrier, logging more than 1,200 hours per year with its CFM fleet.
“Royal Jet has a great relationship with CFM and the CFM56-7B engine provides industry-leading reliability along with better fuel consumption and up to two per cent reduction in fuel burn and carbon emissions,” said Captain Patrick Gordon, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Jet said during the celebration dinner at The Ritz Carlton Grand Canal Abu Dhabi on November 25,. “We are an airline that truly prioritizes safety and reliability for our clients alongside providing a luxury service and we only work with the best suppliers in the field.”
“It is an honor to be here today to celebrate this tremendous milestone with Royal Jet,” said Jean-Paul Ebanga, president and CEO of CFM International. “We have developed a great partnership with them over the past 12 years and have been quite impressed with their continued success in the area of VIP travel. The team has done an exceptional job in maintaining the fleet to the very highest standards. That is a testament to their focus on the safety and reliability of Royal Jet service to its customers. We are proud to be part of this team.”
CFM has been the sole engine supplier for all Boeing 737 aircraft models since 1981, including the BBJ. Overall, the CFM56-7B-powered Boeing 737-600/-700/-800/-900/-900ER/-BBJ fleet has achieved a remarkable 262 million engine flight hours in revenue service with nearly 300 operators worldwide. The engine maintains a 99.98 percent dispatch reliability rate, and has one of the best time on wing records in the industry.
In fact, this engine is so reliable powering the Boeing 737 that, statistically, a pilot will experience an in-flight shutdown only once every 85+ years. How can this be? The engine's current in-flight shutdown rate of 0.001 translates to one in-flight shutdown every one million flight hours. Based on a typical 737 utilization of about 3,000 hours of operation annually, that rate equates to one in-flight shutdown event at the airplane level (two engines) roughly every 170 years.
About Royal Jet
Royal Jet, the Middle East’s foremost private charter company, is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi Aviation, a publicly listed company on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange and Presidential Flight, the royal flight service. Royal Jet is chaired by His Excellency Sheikh Hamden Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, who also serves as Minister in the UAE Federal Cabinet. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Royal Jet operates from its Fixed Based Operations (FBO)/VIP terminal at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The airline has successfully been operating a second FBO at Seychelles International Airport in partnership with Air Seychelles since October 2013.
Royal Jet is the world's largest single BBJ operator. The private charter company is a founder member of the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) and a member of the NBAA, MedLink (a service of MedAir Inc.) and the Flight Safety Foundation. Royal Jet is also the World Travel Awards 2015 ‘Middle East’s Leading Private Jet Charter’ and the 2014 ‘World’s Leading Private Jet Charter’.
About CFM International
CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Snecma (Safran) and GE, is the world’s leading supplier of commercial aircraft engines. To date, the company has delivered more than 28,700 CFM56 engines to 550 operators around the globe. For more information, visit us at www.cfmaeroengines.com or follow us on Twitter @CFM_engines.